Customer Reviews

Doghouse Roses: Stories

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a huge fan of Steve Earle's music, mainly because the songs he writes are incredibly poignant and stirring. These stories will delight all of the fans of his music, the people who love him for his political passions, and anyone who likes a good story. The story "The Red Suitcase" is my favorite, although I enjoyed them all. It was great to read "Taneytown"- the story behind the awesone song on the CD El Corazon. He writes gritty tales that reminded me of some of the great storytellers I can't wait to hear Steve Earle read from this collection.

I'm a hard-core Steve Earle fan, but I was a bit worried about this collection. Writing 4 minute songs is a lot different than 20 page stories, and Steve is such a great songwriter, I wasn't sure how it would translate. I'm quite happy with the results.

The opener, "Doghouse Roses", was actually a letdown for me. Maybe he's too close to this story and while I enjoyed it, I never got *into* it, if that makes sense.

"A Eulogy of Sorts" and "The Reunion" are shining moments here, they really set a strong mood and gripped me from start to finish.

"The Red Suitcase", the oddball of the bunch, could be my favorite. Reads like a Stephen King short story (and I mean that as high praise) and is a fun read.

"Taneytown" suffers in the translation of song to story. The song, one of my favorites, is much more compelling than this.

"The Witness" travels familiar ground for any Steve Earle fan, and is quite gripping, though I feel it does cop out in the end. With all his songs on the subject, I think he's allowed that, and it does make a good point, if somewhat simplistically.

Like any Steve Earle album, this collection is varied as he tries anything that comes to mind, and maybe that means some missteps, but it also means enough gems to make the trip worthwhile.

I'm a huge fan of Steve Earle so I couldn't wait for this book to come out. I wasn't disappointed. Most of the stories I really enjoyed, and his descriptions fed my active imagination. The only reason I gave it only 4 stars is because a few of the stories seemed to have this long build up to the climax of the story only to end seemingly abruptly. It stilly highly recommend it, especially to Steve Earle fans.

Steve Earle is a great storyteller. That is, when his stories are two minutes long and set to a rollicking three chord melody. When he tries his hand at prose, the results range from the deeply embarrassing (Taneytown) to the pretty good (The Reunion). The latter story is almost reason enough to buy the book-- but since it's 24 bucks, you're better off checking it out from the library.

Fans of the brilliant songwriter will value this book mainly for the autobiographical details, and there are a lot of them. The opening story (Doghouse Roses) is a meditation on his marriage to LA music industry exec Teresa Ensenat (with the names changed, of course). This is taking the dictum of "writing what you know" too far. There's no creativity here, merely a guy putting pen to paper and recording some details of his life. That's autobiography, not short fiction.

But that criticism really only applies to the first story and perhaps the last (A Well Tempered Heart), which is a string of treacly sentiments about what seems to be his current girlfriend. In the middle are some good stories, though-- enough, at least, for us to give any sophomore effort by Earle the chance it deserves.

Professional critics reviewing this book will likely make much of Mr. Earle's day jobs: (pick a label) rock-alt-country troubador and warrior for peace and justice. Some of those critics will give him a hard time because he's working out of the box ... the customary reaction to an entertainer who is also an artist.

Mr. Earle is an artist whose medium is words -- whether crafted as songs, poetry or stories. And he does it well, painting poignant and (often) harsh word pictures of real people, places and feelings. Sure, he draws from a wealth of experience, much of it cultivated in the worlds of music-biz and street drugs. But that's what writers do. And "Doghouse Roses" is a collection of good writing because it leaves the reader with palpable feelings that arise from looking closely at that which we'd often rather ignore.

After finishing "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive," I decided to check out Steve's first book. This is a great set of short stories! I've always enjoyed his music. But music and writing are not necessarily similar art forms. It's a good thing that these are short stories because I'm finding it difficult to put the book down in the middle of one. The characters are like people I know and Steve's writing is heartfelt, genuine, frank and unapologetic. Delightful.

Steve Earle, in his collection of short stories entitled "Doghouse Roses," hits a high note when he writes about topics he knows - drug addiction, faltering relationships, the music industry, and capital punishment.

"Doghouse" tells the story of a Memphis country music artist named Bobby whose life becomes one crack cocaine hit after another when he is uprooted and transplanted to L.A. Suprisingly, it is not Bobby who bottoms out in L.A. but his co-dependent wife Kim who realizes she just can't take anymore of Bobby's antics and his apologies in the form of single roses purchased at the checkouts of convenience stores. Kim makes the break from L.A. which, according to Earle, most people can't do. She loads up the BMW with a few provisions and, with Bobby in tow, heads east to deposit him with his family in Texas. It is during this journey, and particularly their overnight stop in Joshua Tree National Park in California, which accounts for much of the story. Earle's descriptions of the calm, peaceful world of the inhabitants of the park (including deadly scorpions and tarantulas) are juxtaposed against the helter skelter lifestyle of the denizens of L.A. Arriving in Houston, Kim abandons Bobby with his family. After wearing out his welcome there, Bobby moves back to Memphis to continue his downward spiral. In most cases, we would expect this to be the end of the story. However, Earle doesn't take the easy way out; he has other plans for Bobby. As contrived as the ending seems at first blush, it is something that Earle himself has experienced, and this makes it all the more believable.

"Billy the Kid" is Earle's scathing commentary of the music industry and the palyers who inhabit it. This story is about the purity of Billy, the proverbial "new kid in town," who has what it takes to be a superstar. Earle intimates that this is not necessarily a good thing and the reader almost dreads what will happen to Billy once he makes the big time. Circumstance interevenes, however, and Billy does not achieve superstardom. In most cases, this would be the end of the story. However, Earle still has a few more jabs he wants to take at the entertainment industry; the sharks start circling even faster and in greater numbers than before as they feel there is still a buck or two to be made off of Billy. Members of Billy's support system intervene and take steps to ensure that there is no exploitation and that innocence is not lost. This is not Earle's strongest piece in the collection; the plot, for the most part, is quite predictable. However, he does know the music industry and it is his descriptions of what goes on in that world that makes "Billy" an enjoyable piece of work.

It is said that you should save the best for last and that is what Earle has done with "The Witness," the second las selection in the book. It is the story of a lawyer whose wife was murdered and his subsequent witnessing of the convicted man's execution. Earle feels passionately about this topic and his passion comes through in his writing. He walks the reader through the event with relative ease - he makes us feel as though we are there witnessing the execution right along with him - something that most of us normally wouldn't want. But, because of his brutal honesty in describing the events, the reader is compelled to read on to the end. And what an end it is! Earle blindsides us with the unexpected and it is more than enough to encourage the most hardline supporter of the death penalty reconsider his/her position on this issue.

All in all, "Doghouse Roses" is an example of a very good "first piece." In the future, I hope we can see Earle write more about topics he is familiar with - time spent in prison, the tolls of relentless touring, the highs of finding a new love and the heartache of divorce.

After listening to his I'LL NEVER GET OUT OF THIS WORLD ALIVE this reading was superb I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive

I don't know Earle's music, except for Copperhead Road. I just finished I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive, and was in the mood for more Steve Earle. It didn't disappoint. Only two stories were so-so. I liked the rest.

I came late to Mr. Earle. My musical tastes reeked of nights at the Fillmore and days chasing a California dream. Nashville town and country music history was a dusty museum of whiny hicks and sad hacks. When the music got schooled by some new creators, there was notice to be taken. This book was a pleasure to experience like catching a great set of that new music. Like discovering a piece of shiny silver in an old cigar-box of broken seashells, these stories gleam with the promise of being enjoyment to the unknowing. I collect books and was led to this one by a sly dog that smelled a classic and barked to get tossed a bone. Lately, I have acquired some of Mr. Earle's music, and find that his storytelling on the printed page, without the emotion of the instruments and the voice, reveals his experience more starkly and more pointedly personal. His music is crafted for the reward of the audience; his book is crafted for his own, and the solitary reader's, reward. We shall look forward to the days when Mr. Earle fashions another shining reward for us all.